Melinda Coppola

twenty four may | from the inside out

Melinda Coppola

twenty four may | from the inside out

Quiet Dreamy Girl Noises

Silver Linings We are looping familiar ground, the houses predictable, almost dear.  Across the way, an imposing home and its four outbuildings spreads along what used to be seven individual yards. The main house seems to peer curiously at our own small one. An anomaly, this mansion, penned in by a tall black fence that […]

April is also…..

April has quite a load to carry! Not only is is Autism Awareness Month and National Poetry Month,  it’s also been deemed National Card and Letter Writing Month. Texts and emails are fine, but isn’t it wonderful to receive a handwritten card or letter in the mailbox? Perhaps you’re looking for a meaningful gift for […]

New Poem Published

I’m pleased that one of my pieces, “Honeymoon”  was just published in Last Stanza Poetry Journal. The journal is available in hardcover, softcover, and on Kindle.  Last Stanza is a beautiful journal, so if you’ve any interest in poetry for yourself or as a gift for someone special, please consider ordering a copy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D28R69VQ/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wY0A1oXJxC9H52BkfBJe2CtaMRH1CveI2fvY0_G7fn8.Mup6ucmLiTO910-CxspaHeIT7nqHv9qTyZSSK736WK8&qid=1713626398&sr=1-18 The […]

More Autism Awareness

For many folks on the autism spectrum, medical encounters are fraught with anxiety and fear. Sensory issues, limited ability to understand procedures and express themselves, the speed at which things are expected to proceed, traumatic memories of previous encounters—all can combine to create some serious daytime nightmares. Bink and I have decades of experiences across […]

These Monikered Months

A  month of daffodils is upon us.  Yay, spring!!  April has been branded both Autism Awareness Month and National Poetry Month.  Here you go, then, a post that covers both.  I’ve shared this poem before, but it feels annually relevant.  As D, a sister mom of a young woman with autism says, ” We are […]

Farther

I’m so pleased that my poem, “Farther”, which I share with you below, was just published in the Spring 2024 issue of Metonym Literary Journal. Metonym is a print journal, available for sale through their site at https://metonym-journal.com/ Poetry is art. While not everything written in all poems actually happened the way it reads, it’s […]

Anxiety, the unwelcome house guest (who never seems to leave).

  Agita Sometimes I think there four of us making a life inside this sweet gray house. Add the felines, we make a quirky octad. There is the me who is I poet, I mom, I carer for everything and everyone who moves within this circle–– the him and her, the furniture which claims no […]

A Tale of Two Motorists

Poem for the Pissed-Off Driver   I have a third eye that sees beyond your scowl, man-behind -the-wheel who couldn’t bear to wait when I slowed to turn right and so zoomed past, horn blaring, finding just enough time to turn and glare at me, mouth a “F*** you” before roaring off to his Clearly […]

Still, After Years

This is the Love Poem, Mid-Life for Super Guy “Who, being loved, is poor?” –Oscar Wilde Remember the night I woke moaning, ankles on fire, some ghost gripping my arches, preventing even a twitch of toes, a wiggle’s wriggle? You rolled without hesitation from the warmth of our layered nest, cast aside your beloved pillows— […]

A Hole That Can’t Be Filled

Can you imagine being in such tremendous pain that the best path to freedom seems to be ending your life?  Feeling so hopeless or worthless that you truly believe the world would be better off without you?  We hear from family and community members and friends left shattered, wondering if anything they could have said […]